Thoughts on personal and group leadership, interspersed with a few lemurs for good measure :-)

1. By Paul Clip - @p4ul

2. Ice cream is cool! (Literally J)
http://bit.ly/18mQz6v

3. AND SO…

4. (Rather Boring) Definitions
ž Leadership
— “The state or position of being a leader”
ž Leader
— “The personwho leads or commands a group,
organization, or country”
ž Surely we can do better!
http://bit.ly/1LJj38B

5. Some of my favorite definitions
ž "Leadership is stepping out of your comfort zone and
taking risk to create reward."
– Katie Easley
ž "Leadership is the behavior that brings the future to
the present, by envisioning the possible and
persuading others to help you make it a reality.”
– Matt Barney
ž "Leadership is employingyour skills and knowledge,
leveraged by your attitude to get the results you
desire."
– Philip Gafka
http://bit.ly/1JzYGI9

6. Clear Themes
ž Leadership is about delivering against a goal,
a vision
ž It’s about doing what’s right
ž It’s not about telling others what to do
ž It’s not necessarily even about leading people,just
leading by example can be very powerful

7. LET’S LOOKAT TWOTYPES OF LEADERSHIP

8. DISCLAIMER
In the advice & ideas that follow…
ž I do a few of these things well
ž Most I only aspire to
ž I believe strongly in most of this advice
ž The rest I think I believe in strongly and am testing
it out
ž Your mileage will vary: Explore, Choose,Adapt
ž This is definitely not the only way

9. PERSONAL
LEADERSHIP
http://bit.ly/18mRIem

10. Walk your talk
ž Deliver on your commitments
ž If you can’t, let people know (and ask for help!)
ahead of the deadline
ž This applies to everyone but in particular to
people in management positions (you set the
example!)
ž It also applies to the commitments you make to
yourself

11. How?
ž Commit to achievable goals
ž Understand how a new task impacts your existing
commitments before accepting it
ž Drive for clarity: What are you delivering by when?
ž Once you commit, own it
ž Take pride & pleasure in doing a good job

12. Manage Your Tasks
ž Now you’re in demand because you
get things done
ž So you end up with lots of things to do! J
ž Your next challenge is managing those tasks
ž Because missing tasks you’ve committed to means
you’re no longer in demand L

13. How? By using at least one of these
Super brain
(perfect recall)
Notebook
(or equivalent)
If you’re like me you only have the second option J

14. I’m not going to help you pick a
Task Manager – There are loads

15. Best practices regardless of choice
ž Capture your thoughts – immediately
— Clutter up your task manager not your brain
ž Pick a tool on multiple platforms
— At least mobile app and web or desktop
ž Categorize tasks by project or, for GTD’ers, by
context (I prefer by project)
ž Focus on today’s tasks only, remove future work
from your view.You generally only want to look
at what you need to get done now

16. Example: My (Current) Task System
I have many
scheduled,
recurring tasks at
various intervals:
Daily,weekly, etc.
They are hidden
until they come
due

17. Email and its challenges
ž GettingThings Done has worked well for me
ž All email notificationsturned off
ž Keep your inbox at zero emails
ž My Outlook system (basic version :-)
— Foldersfor every day of the week
— Labeled 1-5 for speedy keyboard
shortcuts
— If I can’t process,delete or archive an email
immediately,it getsmoved to the day
I want to work on it
— Forget about it untilthat day comes!

18. Tasks. Email. Information?
ž Whether you choose
OneNote, Evernote, *Note
ž Having a single tool
— Accessibleon many platforms
— For your own notes
— And any other relevantinformation
— Is really really useful!

19. How I use Evernote for People
Interactions
ž Every person I meet with regularly has their own
note
ž Any topics I want to share with them get added to
the top of the note
ž Any todos come out of the meeting either get
tracked at Evernote checkboxes or in 2Do
ž A saved search shows me all work notes with
undone todos
ž I still feel like I should be using tags, but don’t K

20. It’s all about…
Clarity: Knowing what you want to do next
Knowing where key info is
Focus: Devoting your attention to it
http://bit.ly/17Zp4if

21. Decision/Planning Loops
Weekly
Key goals
for the
week
Am I ready
for next
week?
Daily
Top 3 things
I want to get
done
Am I ready
for key
meetings?
Multiple times / day
Maintain inbox zero,
pick top priority task, work on it
http://bit.ly/1FuAVAf

22. Complexities
ž Tasks don’t end up in just one location
— 2Do, Outlook,Evernote,Trello
— Pick core tools & use them to remind youto look at
the others
— In my case: Recurring 2Do tasks remind me to check
Evernote &Trello multiple times a week
○ Yes,I use todosto remind me to check other todos
○ Don’t judge ;-)

23. ž Walk your talk
ž Explore the most effective ways to manage your tasks
ž Unclutter your mind
ž Focus on a single important task at a time
ž Plan on daily and weekly cycles
ž Forgive yourself when you fail (and then learn from it)
http://bit.ly/1alPNrl

24. Where I struggle
ž Priorities
— Where to spend my time to drive the biggest benefit?
ž The tyranny of the Now
— Urgent,Important drowns out Important
— The addiction of accomplishing small things
— Direct accomplishment vs. enabling others
ž Seeing the bigger picture
— Winning the battle of today vs. the war of the month
or year

25. Further Reading
ž Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (First
three habits) http://bit.ly/1Bwp7A0
ž GettingThings Done http://bit.ly/17zKnqP
ž So GoodThey Can’t IgnoreYou http://amzn.to/1eizgTw
ž What are the most underrated skills most
employees lack? http://bit.ly/1FXWcpy
ž Essentialism http://bit.ly/1d7153g

26. GROUP
LEADERSHIP
http://bit.ly/1GwXoh2

27. What is a strong leader?
ž What makes for a good leader?
ž How do you define “good”?
ž With some professions it’s easy
— An athlete wins medals
— An author sells books
— Your output is tangible and your feedback loops are
rapid:You know if you’re doing well
ž How do you define your value if you sit in
meetings all day? K
ž How can you tell if you’re doing well?

28. I’M STILL SEARCHING
FOR SOME OFTHOSEANSWERS

29. Job dependent
Job dependent
Jobdependent
Jobdependent
A Simple Model
People

30. Technology
Product
Business
Operations
Example: Engineering Lead
People

31. Drilling into the inner cores
People
ž Establishing & sharing
vision and strategy
ž Aligning it with
execution
ž Growth,mentoring,
recognition
ž Performance &
change management
ž CULTURE
Process & Tools
ž Clear,effective and
well understood
processes
ž The right tools to
support them
ž Automation wherever
appropriate
ž Continuous
improvement
http://bit.ly/1vAaMzY

32. You & your team need clarity on
Whyto work on
something?
Howto work on
something?
http://bit.ly/1vAaMzY

33. Value is created at the edge,
enabled by the core
ž Value is created when your team can focus on that
outer ring, or edge
ž If the inner cores aren’t strong then value creation
takes a hit as your team compensates
ž The team must participate in establishing the
inner cores
ž You can delegate Process &Tools but you must
own People
ž Remember that your core in someone else’s edge

34. Loops Revisited
Every 3-­6 months
Are we working
effectively? How
can we
improve?
Do our goals still
make sense?
Which ones
need to change?
Monthly
What do we need
to accomplish
this month? Next
month?
How are we
tracking to our
yearly goals?
Weekly
Key team goals for the week Are we ready for next week?
http://bit.ly/1FuAVAf

35. Further Reading
ž Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Last four
habits) http://bit.ly/1Bwp7A0
ž After creating the model I realized it mapped well
to Simon Sinek’s “Start withWhy” http://bit.ly/1gpvgUs
ž Barely covered in this presentation but change
management is critical. I liked this intro:
“Change Management:The People Side of
Change” http://bit.ly/1AsJImk

36. LEADERSHIP
KILLERS
http://bit.ly/1GwXoh2

37. Self-Imposed Barriers
ž “I’m not good enough”
ž “Others know way more
than me about this”
ž “I’m not the
manager/director/lead/
personin charge”
ž “No one will want to do
this”
ž “I don’t dare”
ž Yes you are
ž Likely wrong but you can
always work with them
ž You don’t need to be,
you can still lead a way
forward
ž More likely they’re
thinking the same thing
ž What if no one dares?
What is the one common theme?

38. In a word… CLOWNS!
http://bit.ly/1AsIpUr
FEAR!
Fear of trying holds us back!

39. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
Yoda claimed:
http://bit.ly/1DV8SuX
That quickly leads us mortals to “do not”.

40. “If try, you do not.
Do, you will not.”
-Paul.
Yoda was wrong!
You have to try…
So give trying a try J
http://funny.pho.to/yoda/

41. http://bit.ly/1FuCON2

43. http://bit.ly/1LFeYAq

44. True(ish) Facts about Lemurs
ž Lemurs have opposable
thumbs
ž They live up to 18 years
ž They eat their own
weight in consumer
electronics every day
ž Their name is derived
from the Latin word
‘lemures’,which means
‘spirits of the night.’
http://bit.ly/1alSb17